Procrastination
This page is a series of case studies and observations from ME416 alums about procrastination and its role in your project's progress. All we have is right now and today is what it counts By: Zeraey Gebregziabher All of us procrastinate about the things we don’t like to do; do laundries clean the bathroom, have a car maintenance done…extra. It is always something. With this kind of attitude it is not hard to understand what procrastination slides in into the things we would like to do. I had a “to do list” for things that should have been done over the spring break but instead I spend the spring break on doing noting. The time slips away and it is easier for me to complain than to reorganize them. But I realize that this is not going to take me any where so I reorganize things and work on it. If you want to do something or be someone, the time to start is now. Don’t let this day pass by. Don’t do something that is not connected with your dream. Plan for the day in the morning and ask your self what you accomplish at the end of the day. If it is important for you to make something, you will make the time. The busier you are easier to it is, because of necessity, you learn how to manage your time. Generally, all we have is right now and today is what it counts. Don’t wait for circumstances to happen; you make them happen. Every day, you are given one more day to reach your goal, one more day to fulfill your dreams, and one more day to be a better person. Things do not appear as they are By: Najmeddin Shafiei In real life as well as the academic life, things do not appear as they are. Looking at an object from a distance makes it hard to guess what the real size of the object might be. Same concept applies to assignments in school or work environments, changes that may occur in the course of our lives, and anything that is related to an individual. As I was approaching graduation few semesters ago, I could not wait to reach the ultimate goal. The closer I got to graduation the more scared I got. I was concerned about the changes that will occur after graduation. Here I am now graduating in May 2006 and have no idea what will happen to me after graduation. What seemed to be relieving in the past is now a stress factor in my daily life. The question is what could have I done to make this stage of my carrier easier? Is there any thing that I have forgotten? Preparation is one of the most important things that need to be considered before facing any changes in life. The same situation could be created in completing a project. Things may appear simple and easy at the beginning and as the time goes by things that were not of any concern could become major problems. I believe that nothing in life should be taken as granted and no book should be judged by its cover. No matter how confident we are and no matter how easy a task may appear we should always be prepared for the worst case scenario. Plan Ahead By: Ryan Roache One must always plan for the unexpected because the unexpected always occurs. It is always better to plan to complete a project earlier than later. In most cases, when a schedule is projected for a milestone to be completed before a deadline, something always pushes the completion date back. For example, our group is working to design, assemble and test an automated titanium tube loader. We have worked diligently throughout the semester to plan for an on time completion. Ordering parts has created many unexpected delays that we should have taken into consideration. When making orders through the school, we learned that purchase orders turned in on a Thursday are sometimes not fully processed until the following Tuesday, thus losing five days of precious time. Moreover, University Shipping and Receiving can hold an item for days waiting for a group to contact them to indicate what location to deliver on campus. Also, specialty parts are not always in stock and take at least an extra week to ship. It is wise to contact a vendor at the earliest point in time to see if an item is in stock. If the parts are not, the vendor is an excellent reference to another source. In general, one must plan at least twice as long as the stated shipping time. We have learned that schedules look nice on paper, but never go as planned. By working hard at the start of the semester, unexpected obstacles can be dampened and the chance of finishing a project in a timely manner is substantially higher. The idea of planning ahead is relevant to everyday experiences ranging from deadlines at work to scheduling a family vacation. The main idea is to set oneself up for completion and success no matter what challenges arise. The Art of Writing BS By: Scott Storm While I would never recommend BS writing in any of your engineering classes, it is sometimes necessary to BS in less important classes so that more time can be spent working on important things. Say for instance that it is 10 pm and you are sitting in EE/ME 152. You have two assignments due the following morning. One is an English 402 paper on technical writing, while the other is your Spec for ME 416. I’ll tell you right now, screw the English assignment. Spend 80% of your time and effort on the ME 416 assignment. In order to do so, you still need to put together a presentable yet completely BS English paper. The following list provides some ways to write the “worst” paper you will ever get an A grade on. 1) Sound confident. It doesn’t matter if you have no clue what you are talking about. It’s English. You’ve been speaking it almost your entire life! 2) Take 5 minutes to proof read and check spelling. Spelling errors stick out like a sore thumb and draw too much unwanted attention to your paper. 3) Don’t write on anything too interesting. The more interested the professor is in the material, the more critical they will be. 4) Meet the criteria for the paper without leaving anything out, and without adding unnecessary information in. 5) Don’t spend more than 20 minutes per page. If you are going to dedicate more than 20 minutes per page, you obviously are not pressed for time, and you might as well not BS. The most important thing to understand is that you should never put yourself in a situation where you need to BS in order to get all your work done. Start early to assure you have enough time to submit quality work. But if you are ever in a pickle, remember that your engineering GPA means more and that it is okay to BS papers in non engineering classes. What You Really Should Put Off, Is Procrastinating By: Andrea Jones We’ve all been there. It’s 10:30 at night, and you just started studying for a test at 9 the next morning. You had convinced yourself earlier that day, yesterday, the day before yesterday, and even last week that this test would be cake, and combing through your notes less than 12 hours before the exam would be enough to get you a decent grade. Then it hits you: You don’t know jack about this material. So panic mode strikes, and all of a sudden you’re cramming like crazy until 3 in the morning. Next thing you know, the sun is shining through the blinds into your half open eyes, there’s a puddle of drool on your study guide, and you are praying to all the gods in the heavens that the clock doesn’t really say “8:49 am.” Immediately, you start to freak out as you grab your backpack and run out the door. When you get to the classroom, you’re gasping and sweating as the professor hands you the test. The combination of lack of sleep, zero breakfast, nervousness, and blanking on all the information you tried to cram is basically equivalent to tearing up the test before even writing your name down. Ok, so not every situation turns out to be like this one when you procrastinate, but putting off studying or work until the last minute rarely results in the best work possible. I’m writing about procrastination because I myself have made it a bad habit throughout college. I seriously need to buy that shirt that reads “PROCRASTINATORS UNITE! … tomorrow.” Perhaps I’ve been like this because the usual way I find motivation to do work or study is when I have a fast-approaching deadline and I have no choice but to buckle down and go to town. Never have I told my friends “Sorry guys, I can’t go out with you this Friday night— got that Machine Design test next Wednesday.” Then again, I never stress myself about getting straight A’s, so when it comes down to it, your priorities will ultimately be the major factor in whether or not you decide to put things off until the last possible minute. So now that we’re all getting ready to graduate, I’ve been rethinking this whole procrastination thing that I’ve practiced so many times throughout my 4 years at WSU. Once you start a career, it will be expected that you complete your assigned work in a timely manner and to the best of your ability. In order for both of these factors to be present, you must plan how long it will take to produce work of highest quality, and avoid not giving yourself that amount of time required. There are many aspects in life where this approach can be used. When you have enough time to complete a task, you are less stressed and the end result is almost always what you wanted. It’s never too late to change from a procrastinator to a get-work-done-ahead-of-time-r. You’ll see how your grades will improve, your work produced will be of better quality, and overall you’ll be less rushed, stressed, and worried about trying to beat a deadline. Matter of fact, I think I’m going to take a stand and make those changes today! Well, come to think of it, maybe I’ll start tomorrow. Category:Life Tips Category:Academic Tips